1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing documents or paper currency and more particularly to a system for collecting a number of such documents at a collection station for subsequent simultaneous delivery.
2. Prior Art
Because document and paper currency dispensing devices are self-operating in that they function on the command of the user, they provide the convenience of 24 hour availability as well as the capability of being operated at numerous locations where such a service would not otherwise be feasible. Although these dispensing devices are "self operating", the systems must necessarily be accurate, error free and capable of dispensing paper currency upon command by the user in a convenient form and in quantities the user requires. Many prior art currency dispensing machines provide for the successive counting out of currency from a currency storage location. Others merely dispense a selected number of bills to a drawer which is subsequently opened to the user to permit withdrawal of the currency. These systems permit selective withdrawal of varied amounts of currency but do not provide an accurate method of control of the currency being paid out in that once the currency is dispensed there is no means of retracting the currency where an error in dispersement is made.
In order to accommodate both the accuracy requirement and to limit the complexity of the machines, some prior art systems limit the versatility of the payout capability by preassemblage of predetermined amounts of money in a folder for dispersal from the dispensing device. While the complexity of such systems is reduced and accuracy controlled, the ability of the user to request varied sums of money is necessarily limited. Moreover, these machines require the additional step of preassembling the currency for later delivery by the machine.